
n.
- A unit of computer memory or data storage capacity equal to 1,024 gigabytes (240 bytes).
- One trillion bytes.
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ter·a·byte |

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Terabyte |
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| SI decimal prefixes | IEC binary prefixes | |||
| Name (Symbol) |
Value | Name (Symbol) |
Value | |
| kilobyte (kB) | 103 | kibibyte (KiB) | 210 = 1.024 × 103 | |
| megabyte (MB) | 106 | mebibyte (MiB) | 220 ≈ 1.049 × 106 | |
| gigabyte (GB) | 109 | gibibyte (GiB) | 230 ≈ 1.074 × 109 | |
| terabyte (TB) | 1012 | tebibyte (TiB) | 240 ≈ 1.100 × 1012 | |
| petabyte (PB) | 1015 | pebibyte (PiB) | 250 ≈ 1.126 × 1015 | |
| exabyte (EB) | 1018 | exbibyte (EiB) | 260 ≈ 1.153 × 1018 | |
| zettabyte (ZB) | 1021 | zebibyte (ZiB) | 270 ≈ 1.181 × 1021 | |
| yottabyte (YB) | 1024 | yobibyte (YiB) | 280 ≈ 1.209 × 1024 | |
| See also: Multiples of bits · Orders of magnitude of data | ||||
The Terabyte is a multiple of the unitbyte for digital information. The prefix tera means 1012 in the International System of Units (SI), and therefore 1 terabyte is 1000000000000bytes, or 1 trillion (short scale) bytes, or 1024 gigabytes. 1 terabyte in binary prefixes is 0.9095 tebibytes, or 931.32 gibibytes. The unit symbol for the terabyte is TB or TByte, but not Tb (lower case b) which refers to terabit.
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Disk drive sizes are always designated in SI units by manufacturers, which is clearly marked on the packaging. Still, confusion may arise from this definition with the long-standing tradition in some fields of information technology and the computer industry of using binary prefix interpretations for memory sizes. Standards organizations such as International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recommend to use the alternative term tebibyte to signify the traditional measure of 10244 bytes, leading to the following definitions:
The High ISO IEEE number of the terabyte means it can be thought of a physical form of memory, of which the singular byte cannot be. The capacities of computer storage devices are typically specified using the standard SI meaning of unit prefixes, but many operating systems and applications report in binary-based units. Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) reports SI units.
Examples of the use of terabyte to describe data sizes in different fields are:
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| tera– (prefix) | |
| NSS (technology) | |
| IDMSX (technology) |
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